I read that group placement is done by having players placed sequentially. Would'nt the "snake" approach be more fair? In the example of 25 players in 5 groups, player 5 is in group 5, player 6 in group, 1 and player 10 in group 5. This seems too nice for player 5 and not fair for player 6. With the "snake" approach, player 5 and 6 would be in the same group instead of player 5 being the first choice followed by player 10 and player 6 being second choice preceeded by player 1.

How is the winner of a tournament determined. Is it the last person standing or is it the person with the most wins (or points)? I am in a small tournament where I have 4 wins and my opponent has only 1 (because be had no opponent in the last round). Even if I lose both games I will have 4 points and my opponent will have only 3.

I assume in large tournaments it is also possible for someone to last longer than someone else with more points, so how are the places determined?

Perhaps nobody cares, and I will understand. However, for the sake principles, what pairing is more fair:

Assume 4 players. First player's rating is 1800, second 1601, third 1600 and last is 1200. Current system pairs first rating of 1800 with third rating of 1600 and second rating of 1601 with last rating of 1200. In that scenario player 2 has a far better chance to move up than player 1. With the "snake" approach, player 1 is paired with player 4 and player 2 with player 3, giving full advantage to player 1 and giving equal chances to player 2 and 3. Perhaps I am not making my point clear, but if interest is shown, I will try to explain again, because I am sure I have a point. All this in light that this site is just great.

no, you don't. but maybe you should. :) I'll have to think about that one! so for now, no, but in the future, maybe :)

Getting back to the subject :) and if i've got this right, I enrolled for the 1801 > band, but before the start I dropped below 1801 and was booted from the touney' are we saying that if I'd gone above 2000 I would still be in the 1801 - 2000 group?

Great site by the way, its rekindled my interest in chess after a very long lay-off

Thematic tournaments require all games to start from a pre-defined starting position (such as the first 3 moves of the King's Gambit, for example). This allows players to play similar games and test each other in certain openings

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